Traction element for formed containers



Dec. 13, 1966 R. J. M CORMICK ETAL. 3,291,363

TRACTION ELEMENT FOR FORMED CONTAINERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 5,1964 m WM WW MMMR JJJ 7 m M 5 M o a R2 Dec. 13, 1966 R. J. M CORMICKETAL 3,

TRACTION ELEMENT FOR FORMED CONTAINERS Filed Feb. 5, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet2 INVENTORS. Robe/2 .1 M C'orm/bk Robe/'1 J. Turn 6/) Illa JRO/ an $M JHTTORNEYS United States Patent 3,291,363 TRACTION ELEMENT FOR FORMEDCONTAINERS Robert J. McCormick and Robert J. Turnen, Findlay,

and Willard J. Rathbun, Hashins, Ohio, assignors to The Dow ChemicalCompany, Midland, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 5, H64,Ser. No. 342,665 4 Claims. (Cl. 229-55) This invention relates generallyto improvements in formed containers, and, more particularly, to atraction element formed in the bottom Olf containers for improvedhandling thereof during filling and capping operations.

While in the past, legs or other projections on the bottom of containershave been known, they have been included for such purposes as providingbetter insulation from heating or allowing the container to standupright. In some paper containers, a bottom projection, forming a falsebottom, has been present merely because this is the result of the waythe bottom wall of the container is fixed in place. None of theseprojections have been found to appreciably provide improved handlingduring filling and capping operations.

When a purpose such as that discussed above is not present, it has beencustomary to form the containers, particularly those made of plastic,with a generally flat bottom. It is customary to transport thesecontainers wit-h their bottoms on moving wire belts, such as used on theAnderson 34F or Anderson 340 filling machines, products of AndersonBros. Manufacturing Co. of Rockford, Illinois. Such fiat bottomedcontainers have not been completely satisfactory for when they are usedwith the aforementioned machines there has been a very decided tendencyfor them to slip on the wire belts. Thus, the speed at which priorcontainers could be moved from one station to another with automaticfilling and capping equipment has been relatively limited in the past.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provideimproved container structures which can speed up filling and cappingoperations on automatic equipment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a modification inthe bottom structure of plastic containers and the like to give themgreater traction when carried on moving wire belts.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a uniquelyconstructed container including a novel traction ring on the bottomthereof to decrease the conveying time necessary for filling andcapping.

Briefly then, the present invention relates to the provision of adownwardly projecting relatively thin ring extending from the containerbottom wall, which ring has a cross section defining an invertedtruncated triangle to provide better traction for the container when itis being conveyed along an automatic filling and capping belt line.

Yet additional objects and advantages of the present invention. and itsnumerous cognate benefits and features are even more apparent andmanifest in and by the ensuing description and specification taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing in which, wheresoeverpossible, like characters of reference designate corresponding materialand parts throughout the several views thereof, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of apparatus for filling and cappingcup-like containers;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view thereof as seen fromreference line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of a lower portion of a containershowing a traction ring constructed according to the principles of thepresent invention;

FIGURE 4 is a bottom view thereof;

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FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view thereof takenalong reference line 33 of FIG- URE 2, with the traction ring engagedwith a wire belt; and

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 5 only with the traction ringdisengaged with a wire belt.

Cup-like containers 10, described in more detail hereinafter, aregenerally filled and capped by way of a progressively continuousoperation such as that typically illustrated by apparatus 12 of FIGURES1 and 2. Here containers 10 are dropped from a dispenser 14 onto anendless wire belt-type conveyor 16. Each container is the-nprogressively moved under a hopper 18 for filling and thence under acapper 20 for placement of a lid cover on the container. Thence, eachcontainer travels down an inclined coding conveyor 22 and a slide 24onto a collection table 26.

Stop pins 28 are employed to prevent the containers from moving forwardwith conveyor 16 until the preceedin-g container is filled or capped, asthe case may be. This is more clearly shown in FIGURE 2 wherein a pairof pins 28 are in a raised position preventing a container from beingcarried by conveyor 16 in the direct-ion indicated by the arrow. When itis desired to again permit container 10 to be employed, stop pins arelowered below the bottommost extent of the container. In the drawing,conveyor 16 is shown formed of a plurality of wire bands 30 betweenwhich the stop pins 28 are located.

Each container 10, the-rmoformed from a plastic material such aspolystyrene for example, includes a side wall 32 from which extends adownwardly projecting inwardly disposed relatively thin ring, tractionelement or ridge 34 which, in eifect, provides the container 10 withrecessed portions 36 and 38 in the bottom wall thereof. In containeriii, ring 34 is formed with an inclined outer wall 40 and a verticalinner wall 4-2 to form an inverted truncated right triangular crosssection, as best seen in FIGURES 5 and 6. Truncate base 44 of projectingring 34, circumferentially continuous in this particular embodiment,thus form the bottommost extent of the container rather than portion 36,which would otherwise have been the bottommost extent if ring 34 werenot included.

Each wire band 30 is in the form of a wire spiral, as most obvious whenviewed in FIGURES 5 and 6, and, as viewed in elevation, appears to be aplurality of Ws connected together. Certain legs 46 of the Ws areinclined upwardly away from the direction of travel of band 30, asindicated by the arrow, while other legs 48 of the Ws are inclinedupwardly toward the direction of travel of band 30. Adjacent legs 46 and48 appear to be connected by upper and lower apex sections 50 and 52,respectively.

It can thus be readily seen that inclined wall 40 is engaged by apexsection 50 and generally by a portion of leg 46 of band 30 when locatedthereagainst and between coils since base 44 is of a width less than thespace between adjacent apex sections 50 of band 30. While both wall 40and leg 46 are sloped generally alike, it is preferably that the slopeof wall 40 be somewhat greater, from the vertical, than that of leg 46.However, wall 40 still must have enough inclination irom the horizontalto permit base 44 to seat between adjacent apex sections 50. Aninclination which has worked well for wall 40 has been about forty-livedegrees from the vertical. An inc=lina tion of twenty degrees from thevertical is common for leg 4-6.

It is preferable that wall 42 be substantially vertical such that it isfirmly prevented from sliding forward on belts 39 by apex sections 50.Traction ring 34 will readily slide by band 30, as seen in FIGURE 6,when the container is engaged by stop pins 28. Ring 34 thus provides forbetter traction when the container is carried from station to stationduring the usual automatic filling and capping operations with aresultant increase in the capacity of the equipment. Also, because ofthe reduced bottom surface contact area provided by ring 34, containerswill slip more readily down fiat surfaces such as that found in slide24.

While certain representative embodiments and details have been shown forthe purpose of illustrating the invention, it will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Accordingly, what is claimed as new is:

1. A container adapted to be conveyed for filling and capping on aconveyor comprising a plurality of endless bands each formed ofspiralled adjacent coils of wire with the legs of said coils beinginclined with respect to the vertical, said container having a side walland a bottom wall, a traction element integral with said bottom wall andhaving a cross-sectional configuration of a truncated substantiallyright triangle, the truncate base of said triangle forming thebottommost extent of said container, said base having a width less thanthe space between adjacent coils of said bands, the outer wall of saidelement forming one leg of said triangle and being inclined upwardlyfrom said base towards said side wall at an angle intermediate thehorizontal and vertical but greater than the inclination of the legs ofsaid coils, the inner wall of said element forming the substantiallyvertical leg of said triangle, whereby said container will be readilymovable by said hands when said element is engaged between adjacentcoils thereof but will permit said band readily to slip by said elementwhen said container is purposely stopped by other means while on saidmoving bands.

2. The container of claim 1 wherein the angular inclination of saidouter wall is greater than 20 degrees.

3. The container of claim 2, wherein the angular inclination of saidouter wall is about degrees.

4. The container of claim 3 wherein said element is in the form of acontinuous ring adjacent the periphery of said bottom wall.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 81,119 8/1868Vanderslice 220-70 163,747 5/1875 Cummings 22070 X 1,189,822 7/1916House. 2,996,232 8/1961 Walker 229- GEORGE O. RALSTON, Primary Examiner.

1. A CONTAINER ADAPTED TO BE CONVEYED FOR FILLING AND CAPPING ON ACONVEYOR COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF ENDLESS BANDS EACH FORMED OFSPIRALLED ADJACENT COILS OF WIRE WITH THE LEGS OF SAID COILS BEINGINCLINED WITH RESPECT TO THE VERTICAL, SAID CONTAINER HAVING A SIDE WALLAND A BOTTOM WALL, A TRACTION ELEMENT INTEGRAL WITH SAID BOTTOM WALL ANDHAVING A CROSS-SECTIONAL CONFIGURATION OF A TRUNCATED SUBSTANTIALLYRIGHT TRIANGLE, THE TRUNCATE BASE OF SAID TRIANGLE FORMING THE BOTTOMOSTEXTENT OF SAID CONTAINER, SAID BASE HAVING A WIDTH LESS THAN THE SPACEBETWEEN ADJACENT COILS OF SAID BANDS, THE OUTER WALL OF SAID ELEMENTFORMING ONE LEG OF SAID TRIANGLE AND BEING INCLINED UPWARDLY FROM SAIDBASE TOWARDS SAID SIDE WALL AT AN ANGLE INTERMEDIATE THE HORIZONTAL ANDVERTICAL BUT GREATER THAN THE INCLINATION OF THE LEGS OF SAID COILS, THEINNER WALL OF SAID ELEMEMT FORMING THE SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL LEG OFSAID TRIANGLE, WHEREBY SAID CONTAINER WILL BE READILY MOVABLE BY SAIDBANDS WHEN SAID ELEMENT IS ENGAGED BETWEEN ADJACENT COILS THEREOF BUTWILL PERMIT SAID BAND READILY TO SLIP BY SAID ELEMENT WHEN SAIDCONTAINER IS PURPOSELY STOPPED BY OTHER MEANS WHILE ON SAID MOVINGBANDS.